How much of what you do every day is the result of habits
rather than planned thought? We get up in the morning and have our morning
routines. We get out of the house and do the things we normally do during the
day, getting home to do the things we normally do in the evening. We have routines for hygiene, clothing
ourselves, eating, exercising, and any of the numerous things that regularly
populate our lives. Humans are geared
this way; it’s normal. However, when we
decide that we want to make change in our lives, these deeply ingrained habits
still persist and can get in the way, helping us feel that it is impossible for
us to succeed at reaching the new goal.

And such it is for weight loss. Not only do we have habits for how and when
and what we eat, our bodies have actually become habituated to the foods and
drinks we consume. So if we decide that
we are going to make a radical switch from a fast food diet to a vegan one, our
bodies are likely to react equally as radically. They have become used to processing the foods
we put in ourselves on a regular basis, and even if we don’t feel good when we
eat certain foods, it is a familiar feeling of discomfort.

The good news is that it is possible to develop new habits,
and these tendencies to create habits will, in time, lead to new habits
forming. I have a client who actually
lived on a fast food diet, had extremely high cholesterol readings and was
being threatened with medication for diabetes because her blood sugar was over
300. Over about a 3 month period, with
focused and conscious effort, she managed to change her diet little by little
removing visible sugar, many processed foods, and moving towards eating whole
foods – fruits, vegetables, grains, and low-fat protein. As a result, her health began to
improve. And then she came in contact
with a beloved food – pepperoni pizza.
She had a couple of pieces, and within hours, she could feel how unhappy
her body was with it. This surprised her
because she had been able to consume large quantities of it in the past. But her body had begun to adapt to her
changed whole-food diet, and now it expected to have fiber and nutrient-laden foods
rather than starchy fatty ones. So she
was pleasantly surprised at how the gradual change in her eating patterns
actually supported her continuing to eliminate unhealthy foods from her regular
eating routine.

It is possible to change our habits, but we never lose the
ones we establish – we just build new ones that, over time, deepen and can be
followed instead of the old ones. This
is why an alcoholic who stops drinking for years and years can go back in a
very short time to the level of alcohol intake he had when he stopped – the
habit is still there, and his body has body memory of that habit.

I have learned over the years that I generally need
reinforcement to build and sustain new habits, and that having the people
around me being supportive is a tremendous asset. However, there are many times when this isn’t
the case, and the people we love and know don’t support our changes. Don’t despair, but do seek the help of
others. There are many forms of support groups ranging from individual
counseling and coaching to support groups like Weight Watchers to meet-up
groups and so on. Having like-minded people
in your world helps you see what the impact of changes look like on others and
can give you role models for making your own progress. And even if you want to make changes in
private, we now have access to virtual groups via the internet that can provide
this support at a distance.

You can make change in your life and you can achieve your
goals; all you need to do is set your intentions, set a path to your goal, and
go for it. Over time you will surprise
yourself at how much you can achieve.